Hey all
I am currently using a shadowblight minion mendeln build but i am struggling with NM Dungeons 80+ … I also tried a minion - golem with bone spear build that was kinda ok… but still struggling to get to 90NM
I am thinking on using a sever build (sacrifice minions) to try to get at higher NM.
Of course i am open to suggestions!
I am playing on Eternal realm so yeah… no auto casts…
Thanks
Im did a pure minion paragon board and regret it. Im 99 amd so frustrated soon as i hit 100 im done with the game. Sometimes i stand back to wrch them all attack one enemy and it takes them so long to kill it i finish it off due to boredom. They are seriously underpowered and much of the time useless. Cant tell you how many times i see my golem just standing around not attacking anything. I knew minions were bad but didnt realize they were so bad that there is no way they would come close to competing with other builds.
Not…
20 chars to make a post is stupide.
Depends …
Skulm d4builds.gg/builds/8b0d5c04-3aa0-444e-b6bb-a7d8b6a48c74/
have few very impressive videos where his minion built DESTROY Echo of Lilith under 42second … trying this anything else …
Also same built doing NM100 w/o much challenge
sadly this is the state of “minion builds” not a single paragon point, skill tree point, aspect or item used to increase minion damage. the only place where minion damage is multiplied is in the skill tree, and thats purely to get the minion health.
It should be called a “mendeln build” not minion build as minions are doing absolutely nothing damage wise.
Yes, but this could be the whole idea of pet mechanic in D4. Pets are replicator and mutiplicator of necro damage. Think about pet damage a “basic attack” - do you expect to get any serious damage output from it? same logic here
I switched to the ramping minions build on mobalytics when i got a mendeln and it’s strong… however, it doesn’t feel good compared to playing bone spear… i might actually switch back… It just lacks the physical connect. I could throw a bone spear and feel powerful but with minions I’m just walking around feeling blah
If their plan in D4 is for minions to not be the saucce of any serious damage, then why did they make 2 paragon boards, glyphs, a skill tree and multiple legendary items to purely buff minion damage?
If you are right and they do not intend minions to do damage i will quit this game for 2 reasons.
1, i want a actual summoner play style where my minions do damage, and i am purely a buffers/curser/commander of them, if this play style is not possible, then i quit for that reason.
2, if they make items , skill trees and paragon boards and glyphs for a playstyle they won’t facilitate, then they are exceptionally bad at their jobs thus the game is not worth playing.
Why make items with +basic attack damage +basic attack speed? same here. But if you have noticed improvement definitely having place. At release we have 2 complains about pets - durability and native pets damage output after S1 we have only question about damage output. It is entirely possible that S2 will introduce unique that will do exactly what you expecting - native pet damage
their survivability is really bad still, however if they buff their damage somehow maybe i coucld afford more defensive stats on them. As it stands i have gone all out damage on them to see if they are viable, they can clear 70-80 NM dungeons but die alot and cannot survive the butcher at 70. Pure minion playstyle (no mendeln) is frustrating and lackluster and not remotely competitive with all meta variants.
Instead of Mendeln you can use Deathspeaker with (or without) Razor Tail (same idea just different animation and notably lower output but since it don’t require lucky hit it sorta work lol) and of course nothing would work w/o auto summon. By level 100 deathspeaker proc with not specialized deep for blood line paragon ~200-500k x2 per cast of blood surge per minion. Interestingly enough its yield not depend on weapon damage but rather on damage enhancers that you carry - physical damage, blood damage, overpower, crit etc.
Minion builds with the Ring of Mendeln are viable once you understand the Ring procs are not minion damage, they scale off your damage and I stack lucky hit to around 80% without flasks, crit 40%+, crit damage 400%+, vulnerable 90% and physical damage 50%+ with a 3-4 second 15% barber and stuff pops instantly using Corpse Explosion to proc lucky hit, sacrifice golem for crit damage, use corpse reapers and shadow mages.
2 must-have aspects are the Aspect of Grasping Veins and Blighted Aspect on the other, I run veins on my wand and blighted on neck.
I’m soloing T100s which can be fairly tough anyway, but they are viable just not very fun.
Don’t stack things like summoning damage, shadow damage, damage over time etc and remember the rings proc’d damage is based on your personal modifiers, not the minions…they essentially generate corpses for you to proc lucky hit with but the scaling is calculated off your stats.
I’ve hit 200-400M ring procs but lucky hit is a cruddy RNG mechanic anyway so it’s inconsistent at times.
Dunno why bliz hates minions.
But its definitely costing them money at this point.
Dumb choice
the main issue is most players attracted to summoner playstyle are turned off by the mendeln playstyle, myself included.
This is why i quit d4 about a month ago. Thought it was my forever game, realized it lasted the first 1/4 of season 1.
This is the exact reason I uninstalled D4 last month. I’ve been playing either D3 or D4 exclusively for the last 5 years until last month. I would’ve never bothered to purchase Grim Dawn if D4 could’ve held my attention, but it didn’t because D4 has no pet build that’s fun to play.
I tried to like the Mendeln Necromancer, but I really hated the playstyle. Trying to play a true pet build that wasn’t dependent on the Mendeln ring made me suffer through 30 - 60 minute NM dungeon runs. Where’s the fun in that?
The only thing I’m grateful about D4 is that it forced me to look outside of the Diablo franchise to find an ARPG that truly respects pet builds like Grim Dawn does. I really can’t see myself returning to D4 in the foreseeable future unless drastic changes are made with how summons work in the game.
Worst, Golem can’t hold aggro, and minions prioritize hitting Walls!
Would it be inconsiderate of me to suggest that minion/pet builds are good for lazy players? I loved to run minion/pet builds on D2 because of the simplicity but i do understand they must take a second/third place to those builds that require a little more attention to playstyle? In saying so i would love to have a minion all damaging build but it isn’t going to happen.
I finally grinded my way to WTIV and my minions just turn to dust.
What’s the point?
They actually held up pretty well in WTIII at LVL 70 but I don’t even see the point of being a summoner now. I might as well ditch them since I’m fighting without them most of the time anyway or just put it down and wait for a Paladin to come since this sucks now.
i think you might have some fundamental issues with your minion build. Minions are bad, but a good minion build should butcher WT4 at level 70.
oufff just seen the patch notes. looks like survivability will be hugely improved, however damage buffs are all additive and the combo of shadowblight stacking with corpse explosion to empower a 2handed scythe with blighted aspect 240% [x] (thats multiplicative) is gone.
that combo absolutely carried my pure minion damage multipliers. where the hell im going to get that damage back I do not know, summoner might actually be zdps if you don’t choose to play with mendeln.
That comment is fair for the easy content, but when the content gets harder it’s not true because, in my experience, slow kill times for minions means being exposed to enemy abilities for a longer period of time. Other classes can dive into the middle of the pack, press each button a couple of times, then loot the bodies. Meanwhile minion necro has to spend 5 times as long avoiding mechanics and pressing way more buttons.